TAGS: Sustainability / Natural Coatings
An Interview with Susanne Reiter, Area Sales Manager at Hoffmann Mineral
With over a century of experience, Hoffmann Mineral stands as a stalwart in the realm of functional fillers business. Through generations, the company has expanded its range of products, diversifying into various industries.
Neuburg Siliceous Earth raw materials offer numerous benefits such as:
- Scratch and abrasion resistance
- Excellent transparency in clear coatings
- Effective interaction with the polymer matrix
- Approved for food contact
The commitment of Hoffmann Mineral goes beyond innovation. It embraces environmental stewardship, habitat fostering, and reducing its carbon footprint.
We engaged in a conversation with Susanne Reiter, Area Sales Manager at Hoffmann Mineral. She delves into the history of Hoffmann's fillers and highlights their superior features compared to conventional ones.
#1. Tell us more about the background and history of Hoffmann Mineral as a supplier of functional fillers.
Hoffmann Mineral has a history spanning over 120 years. Founded in 1903 by architect Franz Hoffmann, the company began quarrying Neuburg Siliceous Earth, a raw material that was initially used solely in the rubber industry. In 1950, the third generation of the Hoffmann family joined the company, and the car care products under the brand name SONAX were launched.
More than 45 years ago, the last underground mine was closed, and since then the raw material has been carried out by open-cast mining. Today, the fifth generation of the Hoffmann family is introduced into the company to follow in the footsteps of their father Manfred Hoffmann.
Our
Neuburg Siliceous Earth is a unique raw material with a history of 95 million years. During that time, large parts of southern Germany were covered by the sea. In a bay of what is now Bavaria, the various layers of Neuburg Siliceous Earth were deposited during the younger Jurassic period. After the sea receded, the limestone strata collapsed and formed so-called karst funnels into which the Siliceous Earth felt and has been preserved until today. No further deposits of this special material have been found anywhere else in the world!
#2. Can you discuss the innovative processes involved in the development of Hoffmann Mineral's functional fillers and how they contribute to environmental preservation?
Our teams in sales, development, and application technology work closely together with their know-how gained through decades of experience to fulfill the customers’ requirements. If our standard product range is not sufficient enough for a special application, we produce test products on the basis of Neuburg Siliceous Earth with specialized silane treatments. Additionally, we have the opportunity to functionalize different kinds of fillers, the so-called tailored filler solutions of Hoffmann Mineral, to meet customer requirements.
Our commitment to the environment began more than 50 years ago, starting when the company took the ecologically progressive step of recultivating its first quarry in 1963, long before legal requirements were established. Mr. Hoffmann from the third generation with a deep appreciation for nature, believed that “Who takes from nature has to give something back”. This ethos led to a harmonious balance between species protection and industrial interests. This was the start of a successful cooperation with the Bavarian Associations for the Protection of Nature.
Today, our refilled mines serve as habitats for a variety of species, such as yellow-bellied and natterjack toads, crested newts, and sand lizards. Likewise, the implantation of a falcon and other nesting boxes for swifts, songbirds, bats, and similar on the plant site goes back to this engagement.
Young Falcons (L), Yellow-bellied Toad (R)
Hoffmann Mineral Contributes to Environmental Preservation
#3. Given the versatile applications of Neuburg Siliceous Earth in various industries, can you highlight some of the most innovative or unexpected uses of your functional fillers that have emerged recently?
In our application technology, we did so many tests in different water-based corrosion protection formulations, that we thought, we knew what functional filler from us suit the best. But with every additional trial with different suppliers of binders, we found out, that it is fundamentally necessary to know every single component of the formulation.
So we switched some of the single components and received better corrosion protection properties. This is without using any anti-corrosive pigments or rheological additives, just working with an aminosilane functionalized filler.
#4. What are the key technical advantages of Hoffmann Mineral's fillers when compared to conventional fillers, particularly in challenging applications such as high-performance coatings?
Our key technical advantage compared to other fillers is that our structure is a natural combination of corpuscular Neuburg silica and lamellar kaolinite, a loose mixture impossible to separate by physical methods. This unique structure, in combination with different available particle size distributions, color values, and surface treatments, gives us the use opportunity for high-performance applications. For example, we can achieve:
- better storage stability than barium sulfate,
- higher mechanical levels than kaolinite, and
- longer corrosion protection than the well-known combination of talc and barite
Our material is inherently fine, eliminating the need for grinding during production. This advantage allows us to substitute titanium dioxide with our brightest and color-neutral material and reduce the carbon footprint significantly from 5.3 kg CO
2 for 1 kg titanium dioxide to markedly lower than 1 kg CO
2 for 1 kg Neuburg Siliceous Earth.
#5. Hoffmann Mineral emphasizes sustainability in its operations. Can you elaborate on the specific practices and technologies you employ to minimize environmental impact during the mining and production processes?
The first Life Cycle Assessment was provided in September 2022 to determine the environmental impact of our products during:
- raw material extraction,
- production,
- processing or calcination, and
- packaging
Using the example of the
Aktifit® AM product, a life cycle assessment has been compiled in cooperation with TÜV Süd. Now the carbon footprint data of lots of our products are available.
One year later, we made by far the largest investment in our energy transition with a huge photovoltaic project. This system is able to cover up to two-thirds of our on-site requirements. The generated solar energy is expected to save about 16,000 tons of CO
2 within the first 25 years!
#6. How does Hoffmann Mineral ensure its functional fillers comply with global regulatory standards and safety requirements, particularly for use in sensitive applications such as the ones involving food and drinking water contact?
The number of employees in our risk and safety departments has increased in recent years, nearly doubling the number of experts who are intensively involved with global requirements.
Last year, they created a 'product safety information sheet' for each
functional filler, listing all global regulatory standards and safety requirements. This makes it easier for our customers to identify fillers that are suitable for contact with food and drinking water.
SELECT FUNCTIONAL FILLERS BY HOFFMANN MINERAL
About Susanne Reiter
Born in 1978, Susanne Reiter graduated from high school in 1997. Afterward, she trained as a chemical laboratory assistant at the Hoffmann Group. From 1999 to 2021, she worked in the application technology of Hoffmann Mineral with a focus on coating applications.
In July 2021 she joined the sales department and is now responsible as Area Sales Manager for Benelux, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa as well as for the German Coatings and Adhesive market.
DISCLAIMER: All images used in this article are copyright of Hoffmann Mineral.